Posts Tagged ‘StarCraft II: Wings Of Liberty’

As we reported last week, Blizzard have taken the extremely peculiar decision to ban players from playing StarCraft II for using cheats in the single-player game. This meant that, despite cheating no one but themselves, they were locked out of playing the single-player game. Which is clearly bonkers. But it’s not enough for the developer. Blizzard’s lawyers are now setting out to sue those who create cheats.

The digital scoundrels at CheatHappens.com have posted an interesting article about what they’re calling an “unprecedented act” from Blizzard. Namely, at the beginning of this month Blizzard began banning the Battlenet accounts and CD keys of StarCraft II players who were using cheats and trainers (at least one of which was created and distributed by CheatHappens.com) in their single player campaigns and in matches against the AI.

Blizzard’s stance is that since those single player games affect the achievements and score displayed in multiplayer, they can’t be standing for it. In response, CheatHappens point out that these elements “have no bearing on multiplayer standings, matches or games”. Personally, I always thought achievements were harmless. This is causing me to reconsider.

Battle.net project director Craig Canessa mentioned at GDC Online yesterday that StarCraft II’s first expansion, Heart of the Swarm, is at least 18 months away, which is a lot of months. Take your current age and add 1.5 years to it. That’s “at least” how old you’ll be when Heart of the Swarm comes out, with its new single player campaign and new multiplayer content. Won’t you be a little old for games then? It’ll be time to pack it in and buy a Renault Twingo, surely. Might as well bookmark this now.

The original StarCraft got Brood War within 8 months, in case you were wondering. Anyway! Click past the jump for the highlights of Blizzard’s new developer diary, including balance changes planned for the next patch.Read the rest of this entry »

It’s Friday, so time to quickly nose around and see if there are any key stories we’ve missed. And Blizzard releasing their first official custom map for Starcraft 2? That’s a key story. Not an enormous key, like the one Superman uses to keep his Fortress of Solitude locked, but certainly some manner of key. Perhaps one for a padlock for a bike or something. ANYWAY! The map’s called Burning Tide and is basically a 3v3 map riffing off the Devil’s Playground mission from the campaign, with all the fun rising and lowering lava flows and desperate rushing to get Ore. Or, as I prefer to call it “Space-Iron”. You’ll find it in your Custom Games folder in Starcraft II if you just play now.

I’ve figured out why I’m playing StarCraft 2 online. It’s for the rush.

Not the Abrupt-Wave-Of-Units kind of rush. What I mean is that a match of StarCraft 2 will have my heart performing drum solos, and it’ll pluck my taut nerves like violin strings. The game’s been designed for this. What’s forgotten in the talk of how StarCraft pros perform 300 actions per minute is that lesser players simply have to move as fast as they can, and think as fast as they can, in an environment where so much can go wrong at any moment. I’m playing StarCraft 2 because it’s been years since a game has managed to get me quite this excited, and so consistently.Read the rest of this entry »

Blizzard has announced that StarCraft 2 sold 3 million copies worldwide in its first month on sale. That’s good news for any game. For a game with two must-have expandalone releases in the pipeline, I daresay it’s the sound of a leathery Porsche brochure flomping through the letterbox. Or maybe I’m being presumptuous- Blizzard’s boys were were working on SC2 since 2003, after all.

In any case, remember those people complaining that StarCraft 2 was dialing the RTS back by 10 years? The thinking there was that StarCraft 2 ignored all the advancements the genre had made in the new millenium, and that this could only be bad for strategy games as a whole. Whether you agree with that or not, these sales figures do give that argument a little more clout.

Oh, you know what else I’ve just remembered? When Kieron and I took apart PCG during the StarCraft 2 beta and uploaded it to YouTube. Video after the jump.Read the rest of this entry »

As the only member of RPS who’s actually playing StarCraft 2 multiplayer, it falls to me to snatch my withered, claw-like hands from their actions-per-minute training freeware to write that details on the 1.1 patch have been released, with the patch itself arriving in September. There’s some stuff in their about additional mod support, map editor improvements and 3D support, but if you’re anything like me then you’ll only care about the balance changes. Well, it shakes down like this:Read the rest of this entry »

On Friday we gave you guys the chance to win a mammoth stash of StarCraft 2 merchandise, including the above canvas artwork of Arcturus Mengsk. We asked you to describe, in 50 words or less, what you’d craft a star into, and why. And boy, did you ever respond. If I read one more answer relating to Dyson spheres I think I’m going to turn into a Dyson sphere.

Who wants a bona fide crate of StarCraft merchandise? We got in a bit of a fight over here about who could keep it and once the other four decided it should at least go to one of the Hivemind I decided that it would be best to give it away to you, our honest readers. Or at least our honest readers here in the UK. Sorry, rest-of-the-planet.

Why not take a “brick” from playing StarCraft 2 (ha! ah) to watch a Lego animation of the original game? Brought to our attention by the fabulous Joystiq, the video features base-building, combat and the sweetest cotton-wool explosions you’ve ever seen, and you can find it right after the jump.Read the rest of this entry »

Blizzard’s über-RTS, StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty is finally here, with its sprawling single player, imposing multiplayer and grand narrative aspirations. Where does it succeed? Where does it stumble? Does it really need the two additional parts currently in development? Alec and Quinns met in the RPS saloon for a chat.

As you may be aware, a little game called StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty was released tonight. Alec? Probably best you back off. These fine folks aren’t interested in a liveblog of the single player campaign. They’re not interested in the game. These guys? They want to know about the midnight launch at the Game branch in London’s fashionable Oxford Street. They want the glitz, the scoop, the drama. Lucky for them, I was there!Read the rest of this entry »

Goodness, that was quick. Well, by Blizzard standards – I wasn’t expecting this until 2011, to be honest. Hottish on the heels of the ongoing closed beta test, long-in-the-making strategy sequel Starcraft II has finally been accorded an official date on which it will be available in shops: July 27 2010. Ah, shops. Like the internet, but located in annoying places, asking higher prices and carrying the risk of having to physically talk to other human beings. Hopefully Blizzard are planning on a download-only version of the game, given the inherent onlininess of the new Battle.net, but notably they’re not talking about pricing yet. Will Battle.net be free? Will the first chunk of SC2, Wings of Liberty, be as expensive as a standard videogame? Will the game really meet its promised street date of July? Will Batman and Robin be eaten by a giant plant? Tune in beneath the cut – same bat-time, same bat-channel.